Story By: Jon Stalnaker AKA The Studebaker Dude
We have a good friend, Marianne, from our former hometown of Dixon California, that knows a little bit about Oklahoma. Her son lives in Grove where she owns a vacation home. She told us about Miami and how to properly pronounce it. Carlene figured the last “I” is pronounced more like “Ah” as it is just over the border from Missouri which also pronounces the last “I” more like “Ah”. Makes sense to me. Miami, Oklahoma is a really cool Route 66 town. Marianne told us about the theater there that was a popular stop in the heyday of the roadway. We drove by it slowly, but it was not open. I would have liked to have taken a closer look at it, but we didn’t dilly dally there the next day. It’s nice to know I can do that now as Miami is just a short drive from Sapulpa.
Our first day on Route 66 took us a mere 361 miles, counting getting lost a few times. Deep down inside I was still concerned about making it back and trying not to freak out about it. All in all, day one was a fun day and there were no issues with the car. I put the Kansas and Oklahoma magnets on the glovebox before disconnecting the battery and getting some shuteye.
Day two of Route 66 was the shortest leg of the trip, and we didn’t even make it out of Oklahoma. But it was a special leg of the trip for Carlene. Carlene grew up with roots in this state. Her daddy was born in Camargo and grew up in Woodward and El Reno before leaving Oklahoma for a life in the Army. His mom, Carlene’s grandmother, lived in El Reno and Carlene had many childhood memories of visiting her home. The last time Carlene had been to El Reno was when she was 19 years old. We didn’t have an address and her grandmother has been long gone, but we intended to drive through El Reno hoping to find something familiar.
My memory of that day includes a stop at the blue whale in Catoosa. I wasn’t looking for it but saw it and wanted to give it a closer look. I remember seeing the inside of it and being underwhelmed. Carlene swears she never saw it and I can’t find any pictures proving whether we did or did not stop there. Very strange, my recollection is so vivid. I remember driving through Oklahoma City looking for something “pretty” to go with the “Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty” words in the Get Your Kicks song. Traffic was busy and I gave up on that idea. I remember seeing a “Home of Garth Brooks” sign in Yukon and a sign that stated, “we fix hail damage”. I saw the sign too late to get a picture and didn’t want to turn back to take it. It was one of the worries that was on my mind as I was driving a car that I spent ridiculous money to make pretty.
We got to El Reno and drove around town looking for anything to jog her memory but to no avail. We couldn’t even stop to eat there as it was a Sunday and we couldn’t find anything open. We got back on the road looking for a fun place to eat.
We made it to Weatherford and saw a sign for Lucille’s Roadhouse. It was a great Route 66 themed eatery. We had a good meal then set out to find a place to stay. We made it to Elk City which was close to the Texas border. We found a nice hotel and settled down for the night knowing full well we would cross into Texas first thing and would have plenty of time to make it to Amarillo by morning; another milestone within reach. Now it’s time to disconnect the battery and call it a day. Today we drove 283 miles on Route 66. We didn’t get to another state, but we spent some quality time in El Reno and got a good look at Oklahoma. I went to sleep thinking that we were maybe going a little too fast. What we needed was to take more time looking around. I learned to be careful what I ask for, as you will find out in an upcoming story.
